Dead Man Walking: Walking with Sister Helen

Opera Now
November 2025

"I walked into this assuming that if somebody's on death row, they probably deserve to be there. I unlearned a lot of things that I think the criminal justice system is very happy to let people assume. I'm grateful to this piece for challenging me to ask, ‘Okay, where do I really sit? How do I feel about this thing that both affects and ends lives?’"

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Beth Stewart
Why ‘Dead Man Walking’ is the most performed new opera of the last 25 years

San Francisco Chronicle
September 2025

“It shows you the story from all the different aspects,” Barton said. At no point does it tell you, ‘You have to be on his side,’ or ‘You shouldn’t be on his side. I’m so glad it’s Jake Heggie who wrote this because he really knows how to flesh out a human story, and Sister Helen Prejean is as human as it gets in so many ways.”

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Beth Stewart
Five unmissable new classical albums

Gramophone Magazine
August 2025

This live recording of Jake Heggie's Intelligence was made during the world-premiere run of performances at Houston Grand Opera. Intelligence tells the true story of two women who ran a Union spy ring during the American Civil War.

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Beth Stewart